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Exotic Special Weapons

Weapon Ornaments

Part II Special Weapons

Welcome back guardians. Today we are continuing with our exotic weapon lore series. In part one, we covered all exotic primary weapons that have an ornament, in this video will we cover all special weapons that have an ornament. I will give a brief Lore description of the weapon first and then describe how the weapon ornament has significance. Be aware, sometimes the weapon ornaments are intricately linked to the story of the weapon and other times the significance is much less obvious.

If you are watching this video between 6-8pm EST US, it is likely I am over on twitch preparing for age of triumph and the return of the old raids, feel free to come join me over on twitch. This is myelin games and I hope you enjoy this latest destiny lore episode.

Starting from top left of the special weapons and working our way across.

Telesto. One of my favorite exotics. The Ornaments and the grimoire card give the impression that Telesto contains the remnants of the Queen’s Harbingers. The Harbingers are those blue orbs that the Queen and her Techeuns summon in the opening scene of the Taken King. The Harbingers are not necessarily only weapons, but the queen uses them as weapons. They are described as being alive and apart from being used when the Awoken tried to take on Oryx, they were also used during the reef Wars. The queen used the Harbingers to destroy the House of Wolves fleet and later would create an illusion of the Harbingers to gain a tactical advantage during the Reef Wars.

During the Reef Wars it appears that the Harbingers were used for purely destructive purposes, however when the Awoken took on Oryx, there appears to be a hidden agenda of using the Harbingers and that was to

“implant them on the Dreadnaught”

what exactly this means, is still unknown, however it is told to us in the Coven grimoire card. Regardless, following the battle between the Awoken and Oryx, the Telesto grimoire card reveals that remnants of the Harbingers are lingering around Saturn’s moon. The card reads,

“Vestiges of the Queen’s Harbingers yet linger among Saturn’s moons. Expanded search of Saturn’s nearby moons produced only one notable discovery: A cloud of Harbinger matter collected around Saturn’s 13th moon, designation “Telesto.” A sample is enclosed for your examination.”

The word Vestige means, trace or remnant of something that is disappearing or no longer exists, so the card implies that they have captured a sample of the remnant harbingers used during the battle. The most densely populated area of this matter was around the 13th moon of Saturn named Telesto, so the fact that the Weapon is named Telesto, strongly indicates that this weapon is somewhat powered by the remnant harbinger matter found at Telesto. The ornaments reinforce this theory. The

“Lingering vestige”

ornament is blue in colour, the same color as the Harbingers during the cutscene and so strongly suggests that Telesto is empowered by Harbinger matter. The other ornament,

“Queen’s command”

I believe is a hint to the overall plan by the Queen. I am sure most you know that the Queen is not dead, that was revealed during a Bungie livestream, and the Haunting words from the Queen,

“the Awoken have played their part. This was all part of the plan.”

Indicates that the Awoken loss was intentional or they at least knew they were going to lose. Prince Uldren also suspects that the Awoken and the Queen knew that they would lose, however this was part of the plan. the Aftermath grimoire card reads,

“The Techeuns should’ve known what the Dreadnaught could do. Must’ve known. Did they not feel what he felt? Hear what he heard? And that damn Ketch, it wasn’t protected. They had to know that. All to deploy the Harbingers. They barely got a foothold before the weapon was fired.”

So I believe the “Queen’s command” ornament reinforces that the Queen had a plan, and the plan involved the Awoken losing and the Queen faking her death.

Plan C, no ornaments.

Queen’s breaker bow, no ornaments.

Chaperone no ornaments.

Invective. Invective actually has some really cool lore that I have overlooked for sometime. In year one, to obtain Invective you have to completed the Exotic Questline line, Dubious Task. This quest line explains Ikora Reys more rebellious days, not only being incredible competent in the crucible but also doing what Warlocks do… just wandering the Galaxy in the search of the truth. The Invective grimoire card reads,

“I tried to talk them down. They made a grab for my Ghost. After that it was a short conversation.”- Ikora Rey. Invective was Ikora Rey’s weapon of choice during her younger, more rebellious days. An ideal fallback for situations that can’t be solved by wit, quick talk, or pure intimidation, this modified shotgun uses a self-replicating magazine to keep its owner well-stocked for any and all trouble that waits beyond the City”.

During the exotic questline, in order to obtain the weapon you must prove your worth to Ikora Rey by collecting a Clot of Darkness, the quest line reads,

A Clot of Darkness.

“I ask guardians to prove themselves to me because I don’t want to ask too much of them. But you’re ready. Find a place where the Darkness grows strong. Return with a clot of the Darkness itself, gathered from one of the creatures there.”

“Rumour has it that Ikora Rey used to roam the system on dangerous, solitary expeditions. Perhaps you walk in her footsteps- or carry on where she left off. Thank you. I miss the freedom you have, Guardian. Savour it. Listen- I want you to have something of mine. A relic of my wandering days.”

Following handing in the Clot of Darkness you must acquire a golden age shotgun magazine from the weapon smith, this magazine is what grants invective its self-replicating bullets. And following that you are actually gifted with Ikora Rey’s original invective shotgun. It is one of the few weapons that is an original and not actually replicated from golden age blue prints. Upon completing the quest it reads,

“Invective. It’s yours now. Please don’t get yourself killed in some forsaken pit. And if you path permits- bring it back to see me now and then.”

The two ornaments are Storm’s reproach and Iconoclast. I am a bit confused by Storm’s Reproach and can’t seem to link this back to the lore. When I think about this weapon belonging to Ikora Rey, a warlock, and it uses the word Storm, I instantly think of a Stormcaller. Reproach means to express disapproval or disappointment. Storm’s Reproach… although Storm’s are often associated with Stormcallers, Storms occasionally likened to the Darkness, and considering the questline has us prove our worth by gathering a clot of Darkness and facing the Darkness, this ornament may just indicate that, we use it to fight the Darkness. Storm’s Reproach might also just represent Ikora Rey’s abrasive and rebellious days.

The second ornament, Iconoclast is much more interesting. When equipped, a symbol is added to the weapon frame. This symbol is the same symbol seen on bad juju and forms the perk String of Curses. It is also seen on Ikora’s Rey’s shoulder pad, it is also on the gyroscope in the Speaker’s chambers and it is very similarly to the scope of Thorn and Necrochasm, the three intersecting lines. I do not really know what this symbol means, however the word Iconoclast, means to

“attack or criticize cherished believes or institutions or destroyer of images used in religious worships”.

Ikora Rey is also called an Iconoclasic guardian, I believe this word Iconoclast emphases this type of Warlock, Warlock’s question everything, they search for the truth, they are not happy with being told history, they want to discover it for themselves. So I believe Iconoclast represents that, these abrasive warlocks willing to attack beliefs and institutions. Which is really interesting, because Ikora Rey is a vanguard, she sort of has to accept traveler, however maybe back in her more rebellious days she did not accept the traveler or the word of the speaker.

Universal remote, zen meteor, hereafter, no ornaments.

Black Spindle. Remember Black Spindle was originally Black Hammer from Crota’s End, until it was converted to an exotic weapon in the Taken King and could be obtained by completing the alternative ending of the mission, Lost to Light. The mission lost to Light is essentially about collecting a shard from Crota’s crystal, so we can then fill it with Crota’s soul and then enter Oryx’s realm whist pretending to be ascendant. The alternative ending has us clear a room full of Taken, and the boss in that room is called, Driviks, The Chosen. Unfortunately, no lore on Driviks. The mission itself does not give too many clues to the Lore of Black Spindle, apart from reinforcing Black Spindle is connected to the Hive and the Taken. The Black Spindle card hints at this weapon being related to Oryx’s daughters the Death Singers. It reads,

“Your only existence shall be that which I weave for you out of sorrow and woe.

Ir Halak and Ir Anûk laugh at Crota.
Finality is a child’s plaything,
Fit for one such as Crota,
They say.

No Hammer for the Unraveler and the Weaver,
But a Spindle, wound with woe.
For their foes,
No end of suffering.”

So Ir Halak and Ir Anuk, are also known as the Unraveler and the Weaver respectively. The reason for them being known as the Unraveler and Weaver, is they stand at the head of Oryx’s Dreadnaught, the Dreadnaught is essentially Oryx’s throne world, and what they do is Ir Halak unravels worlds, whilst Ir Anuk weaves them back into Oryx’s throne world.

Have listen to both of the grimoire cards for the deathsingers,

Ir Halak

She who stands ahead
at the prow of the ship of Oryx, her father,
she is Ir Halak,
The Unraveler.
She plies her blades upon the fabric of space,
cuts the seams,
pulls apart the cloth,
leaves worlds in tatters.

Ir Anuk

Behind the Unraveler comes Ir Anûk,
The Weaver.
She takes in hand the threads of her sister’s work,
weaves them into the tapestry of Oryx’s realm.

So to put all of this information together, Black Spindle has theme of unravelling your enemies, destroying them over and over again, and weaving them into the afterlife, weaving them pain and suffering. As the card reads, your existence shall be that which I weave for you, no hammer for the unraveler and the weaver, but a spindle, wound with woe, no end of suffering. I think you could argue that the mechanics of Black Spindle, ie returning rounds to the magazine, may even be related to this idea of unweaving and weaving reality.

The Black Spindle card, definitely seems to be written from the perspective of the Death Singers, so the question is, did the Deathsingers create this weapon?? We really don’t know. The second question, is, is this weapon a Weapon of Sorrow. Especially since it mentions the word sorrow in its item description. Once again, there is not enough information to indicate that this is a weapon of sorrow, it is possible however I don’t believe there is enough information in the grimoire cards to really speculate this.

Now let’s move onto the ornaments, Cold Between Stars and Ragabone. The Cold between stars ornaments makes the weapon look taken, so I believe the Cold between the stars is the place where Oryx takes his subjects, he sends them to the cold between stars, where they become taken. This makes sense in the general theme of the weapon of unraveling and weaving things back together, Oryx essential breaks his subject down and rebuilds them into what he believes is the perfect form.

The other ornament, Ragabone, I think Ragabone is a slang term for Rag-and-bone man. Rag-and-bone man is someone who collects unwanted household items and sells them on. Scavenging unwanted possessions to sell. I think Ragabone is an ugly ugly ornament, that yes, does look like a someone just chucked together all their unwanted parts to make a sniper rifle. The interesting thing about Ragabone, is it could imply that his weapon was discarded by the Hive, I have to wonder if The deathsingers discarded this weapon before it came into our possession.

Not sure if this is Ice Breaker or Zen Meteor here, unfortunately I only have the year one breaker. Regardless, I will cover Ice Breaker’s Lore now.

Not a huge amount of Lore surrounding the Ice Breaker, the grimoire card explains that it was a collaboration between the Vangaurd and a number of weapon foundries, however only a single weapon reached testing phase, as essential the weapon would cause fatal damage to the user. I cant see a reason for why it’s rounds replicate, however I assume it uses the same golden age technology as the Invective. The most interesting aspect about Ice Breaker, is that only one weapon was completed, however there are multiple prototypes and I believe the prototypes are what Guardians use. Have a listen to the card,

“Meant as an exploration of Golden Age weapon technology, the project was scrapped after only a single weapon reached the testing phase.

The prototypes for the project’s lone weapon are considered dangerous and unfit for field duty by the Vanguard. This hasn’t stopped daring Guardians from seeking out the Ice Breakers – death, after all, is an occupational hazard.”

The exciting thing about this, is there might be a grandmaster ice breaker, the only ice breaker to be produced and all the other icebreakers are actually prototypes. The Ice breaker ornaments, dunemaker and nanochance are ornaments that I cant seem to interpret much from. Dunemaker with the camouflage.. I am really not sure how that relates to Ice Breaker. Similarly, Nanochance, I am not too sure of it’s significance, when I think of Nano, I think of Nano-mites, i.e. I think of SIVA. Alternatively, Nanochance, is implying a small chance… likely a small chance that this weapon will explode during use.

Lord of wolves… once again, another exotic I only got during year one. Not a huge amount of lore either. The Lord of Wolves grimoire card mentions a Crow named Jolyon, remember that the Crows can either be birdlike robotic spies or actual Awoken spies, commanded by the Master of Crows, Prince Uldren, however control of the Crows was then passed to Variks following the events of the Taken King. The grimoire card implies that this Crow found the weapon, Lord of Wolves and modified it to it’s current iteration. It reads,

“Jolyon was a Crow. He’d seen much. More than most. He held the enemy’s greatest weapon. Remembered its burn. Then began tinkering. He liked things. Liked how they worked. Found happiness in finding new avenues through which a thing could function. Not to alter the purpose, but simply to refine it.”

Apart from this grimoire card, the only other lore surrounding Lord of Wolves is from the quest to obtain it, the Elder Cipher Exotic Bounty. This quest basically has you found and charge an Elder Cipher in the Prison of Elders. An Elder Cipher is a living tool that the Fallen use to distribute ether, the life source of the Fallen. It is usually in possession of a Kell. And yes, Variks possess multiple Elder Ciphers now, as we exchange a charged Elder Cipher for a choice of three exotic weapons, one of which includes the Lord of Wolves.

So how does all this relate to the new ornament called,

“Perfect Predator”.

Well the word “Perfect” has become very synonymous with SIVA, Perfected Enemies, perfected strikes etc. As Variks is currently in charge of the Crows, this Crow Jolyon found Lord of Wolves, this could imply that Variks or the Crows have been tinkering with the weapon again, but this time they have used SIVA to Perfect it. For those who have seen my Variks video, you will know that I think Variks is a central character to the plot line of the Fallen, and he is in a very powerful position in the storyline, possessing control of the Crows and the Elder Ciphers, so to add SIVA into the mix and controlling SIVA to some extent, only adds fuel to the fire.

The Trespasser! This weapon is really cool. Shiro-4 is amazing weapon smith, he is often not given credit for this, however he craft this weapon, the new gjallarhorn, outbreak prime and the Khovostov. So Shiro knows how to make a weapon. Shiro is a scout, he is extremely resourceful which you can tell by his weapon the Trespasser, the gun is created from multiple weapon parts, the barrel is different, the magazine looks like it doesn’t belong, the receiver is different.

However, Shiro is not just a resourceful scout that can craft weapons on the fly whilst in the field, but he is a skilled assassin. The ornament, Fallen Assassin, implies that Shiro has mainly targeted Fallen enemies, and I believe that his patchwork on his House of Kings cape represents assassinating Fallen from the House of Kings. The Crucible Assassin is an interesting ornament, as I think it is more about implying that Shiro was skilled in the crucible rather than actually killing guardians in the Crucible. Remember, that Dredgen Yor ruled the crucible with thorn at his side and very possible that he actually killed guardians… I do not think that is what Shiro did at all, I think this ornament is just saying, Shiro is a beast, a beast in the PvP and beast in PvE.

That concludes this latest destiny lore episode. I hope you have enjoyed this lore summary of all the exotic special weapons that have an ornament. Next up will be exotic heavy weapons and then I will need to go back and cover all the other weapons that do not have ornaments.

If you would like to support the channel, leave the phrase, Cold between stars, I really like the ornament and I think it completely appropriate considering the return of crota and Oryx. As usual, it has been a pleasure, this is myelin games.